Whitfield Quest WP4 Questions (New to pellet heat)

[BucksWhit]

I just moved into a new house over the summer and it had a pellet stove insert (begin my obsession with pellet heating!). As far as I can tell its a Whitfield Quest WP4. The number under the pellet door is wh-q 28975. The previous owner said it is a 1999 but I think it might even be older.

At first it would shut off after 10 minutes of running so some helpful searching on the forum caused me to replace the low limit switch. Now electrically it works perfectly.

Couple things I have noticed. The damper even at the very lowest setting seems to bring a ton of air into the burn pot. I usually have to run it on the lowest damper setting even with the highest feed rate. Turning it any higher shoots half burned pellets into the side ash trays. Is that normal?

Also I seem to get a "dead" area in my burn pot towards the front of the ultra grate after running for more than 8 hours. I scrape it and it just reforms in another 8 hours. I am using maine woods pellets. I am not giving it enough air to the burn pot?

One last thing. I have a 1600 sqft cape from 1950 that is far from tight. When its over 35 the stove can crank the whole house. Below freezing it can't keep up at all. Does anyone know if this is too small of a stove for this house? I love love love the manual aspect of tuning the Whitfield and am wondering if I should consider looking for a bigger Whitfield insert on CL.

Any help would be appreciated for a pellet newb

 

[Ranger72]

For starters, make sure your damper is set up properly. I found a pdf user manual I'll link to. I'll also attach a screenshot of the page pertaining to the damper.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...zfGNuhws3DVgAXo6A&sig2=gw3FRMzJLKN2mxLhdwrWxg

 

[Ranger72]

Pic here

 

[BucksWhit]

It has a knob based damper adjustment that is connected to a cable. I traced it to the back of the stove. I can't find anywhere to adjust it.

 

[Stovensen]

It has a knob based damper adjustment that is connected to a cable. I traced it to the back of the stove. I can't find anywhere to adjust it.

The info Ranger72 posted is for the Quest Plus ( the one I have ). Your insert is the regular Quest, since it has the cable controlled damper. Another way of telling the regular Quest from a Quest Plus is to look at the pellet drop chute: This is oval on the regular Quest and rectangular on the Quest Plus.
The control boards are also VERY different.
On the regular Quest the combustion blower runs at full speed constantly, so the combustion air can only be controlled by the damper setting. Is it possible that the cable has jumped off the damper gate in the exhaust duct? See illustration of cable attachment to damper gate.

This would explain the half burnt pellets being pulled out of the pot ( too much combustion air ).
The service manual has useful information. I have attached it below. Click on the icon for download.

The installation/owners manual also has many useful informations. I have a pdf document of this, too. Unfortunately it is 4.8 MB, so it is too large to attach here. If you're interested, please send me your e-mail address in a PM, and I'll send it to you.

 

[Wilbur Feral]

After my first year with my Quest I took it apart for a good cleaning. I found that the cable controls a gate and that small adjustments have big swings. My advice is to pull it out and lubricate the cable and gate, and work it a bit. I personally use Dry Lube with good results (Home Depot has it).

Also, pellets do send to come out a bit as the draft increases. For dead spot, I suspect some clogged air holes / slots in that area.

 

[Ranger72]

Ahh sorry, thought I read quest plus in the original post.

 

[BucksWhit]

Thanks for all the replies!

I confirmed the cable is connected to the swing arm and it does move with the damper adjustment knob. It seems like a small movement of the damper control moves the swing arm quite a bit! With the last bit of turning it left moving it a seemingly HUGE amount. It seems fairly fluid but without seeing inside its hard to know if it goes all the way closed or not.

I think you are right and I have way too much air getting to the pot.

To access the damper do you suggest pulling the whole insert out and working from the back or can I slide it out a bit (without disconnecting the exhaust) and get at it from the top?

 

[Wilbur Feral]

I have personally had to remove it, but I am neither small nor flexible.